I haven’t talked much about that, but it was such a difficult time because he [Kojima] was going through a lot last year. The fact that he finished that game under those circumstances is just amazing. He was locked in a separate room on a different floor than his development team for the final six months of development. He couldn’t even talk to them – he had to talk through someone else. That’s how that game was finished.
Part of what kept me going this year was a belief that we had to be back on the same stage to give him his due and give him the award that he was robbed of last year.

This is particularly interesting because Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was universally praised with the exception of the game’s Chapter 2, which felt rushed and incomplete. Perhaps Kojima’s forced separation from his development team negatively influenced that specific portion of the game.

Regardless, the game designer has now moved on and is working on Death Stranding. We just got a swirl of new rumors on the game such as that it will use one of Sony’s internal engines. After receiving the Industry Icon award at Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards 2016, Kojima will be at Anaheim for PlayStation Experience 2016.

After receiving the Industry Icon award at Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards 2016, Kojima will be at Anaheim for PlayStation Experience 2016. He’ll be featured in a developer panel on December 3rd at 1PM (Pacific Time), which is where we hope he’ll confirm lots more details on Death Stranding.